Plagiochila spinulosa Prickly Featherwort

A dioicous leafy liverwort which forms quite large cushions on rocks and trees in humid, Atlantic woodlands. Its leaves have spiny teeth like Plagiochila bifaria and Plagiochila punctata, which are the main sources of confusion (see descriptions of those species). The front margin of the leaf clearly runs down the stem, which is a field character that will help to separate it from Plagiochila punctata, but small plants can be difficult to separate from Plagiochila bifaria with which it is more often confused. However, the leaves of Plagiochila bifaria have a distictive perpendicular insertion. It is a hyperoceanic species with a markedly werstern distribution in Britain and it is a characteristic member of the upland Atlantic woodland flora of Wales. It is very rare in West Glamorgan where it is found on the trunks and branches of trees in the humid woodlands of the Nedd Fechan valley.  Sporophytes are unknown.